A Night in the Emperor's Garden by Qais Akbar Omar

Author:Qais Akbar Omar [Omar, Qais Akbar and Landrigan, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781910376201
Publisher: Haus Publishing
Published: 2015-12-11T00:00:00+00:00

Hashmat Ghani Ahmadzai describes himself as the titular leader of the Kuchis, Afghanistan’s Pashtun nomads. What better man, then, to ask for a Kuchi tent? One was needed to accommodate the Princess of Herat and her ladies while they were encamped in the King of Kabul’s garden.

Kuchi tents are woven from black goat hair and stretched over wooden frames. They provide shelter from the sun during the hottest part of the day, and a place to retire at night. At their best, they are utilitarian. Corinne, however, wanted a tent that was visually stunning. Perhaps Hashmat understood that. From somewhere, he found a white, six-sided tent made of canvas unlike anything a Kuchi would use. It was perfect, though, for Love’s Labour’s Lost. He also contributed some magnificent tent hangings that complemented the Turkmen accent of the costumes.

Hashmat, whose brother, Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, became Afghanistan’s president in 2014, always enjoyed sharing his encyclopedic knowledge of Afghan history during meetings about the tent. His trucking business kept many Kuchis employed in the modern equivalent of their ancient tradition as caravan traders. “The Phoenicians controlled the sea routes,” he said, “but the Pashtuns controlled the land routes.” That was how a Semitic tribe like the Pashtuns found their way into the place that they named the Land of Abram, or Afghanistan, after their great patriarch. But that is a story for another day, and best heard from Hashmat.

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